Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-12-17
-x ~s~a .-N- ~w-=-M
s~-..s 49,. 49,.
| HISTORY OF ADVENTURE.
BY II. RIDER HAGGARD.

A stony-hearted mother is our earth, and
stones are the bread she gives her children
for their daily food. Stones TO eat and bit
ter water for their thirst, and stripes for
tender nature. Who could endure this for
many lives! Who would SO laden up his
back with memories Of lost hours and
loves, and Of his neighbor's SORROWS that
he cannot lesson, and wisdom that brings
not consolationg Hard is il to die, because
our delicate flesh doth shrink back from
the worm il will not feel, and from that
unknown which the w~inding-sheet doth
curtain from our view. But harder still,
10 my fancy, would it he to live on, green
in the leRf and fair, but dead n rotten
at the core, and feel that other secret worm
OF recollection gnawinG ever at the heart"
"Bethink thee, Holly" she said; ''yet
doth long life and strength and beauty be-
yond measure mean power and ali things
that are dear 10 man"
And that, oh, queen" l answered, 'are
those thing that are dear to man? Are
they not bubbles? Is not ambition but an
endless ladder by which no height IS ever
climbed till the last unreachable run is
mounteds For height leads on TO height,
and there is no resting-place upon them,
and rung doth grow upon ring, and there
is nolimitt to the number. Doth not wealth
satiate and become nauseous, and no long
er serve To satisfy Il pleasure, or to buy
an hours ease Of mind. And is there any
end to wisdom that we may hope to reach
it? Rather the more we learn shall we
not thereby be able only to better compass
out our ignorance? Did we live ten thous-
and years, could we hope TO solve the Sc
crcts of the suns, and OF the space beyond
the suns, and of the hand that hung them
in the heavens? Would not our wisdom
be but rs a gnawing hunger calling our
consciousness day by day 10 Il knowledge
Of the empty craving of our souls? Would
it not be but rs a light in q great cavern,
that though bright it burn, and brighter
yet, doth but the more serve TO show the
depths Of the gloom around it, And what
good thing is there beyond that we may
gain by length of days."
Nay, my Holly, there is l%ove-love which
makes all things beautiful, and doth
breathe divinity into the very dust We
tread. With love Shall life roll ~gloriously
on from year to year, like the voice of some
great music that hath power to hold the
hearers heart poised on eagles wings
above the sordid shame and folly Of the
earth.
And now" went on she, changing her
tone and the subject together, tell me, my
| Kallikrates, for as yet | know it not, how
came yc to seek me here? Yesternight
| thou didst Z ytnat Kallikrates-him whom
thou sawcst was thine ancestor. How
was it? Tell me-tAou dost not speak
oyermuch."
Thus adiured, Leo told her the wonder
full story Of the caskct and Of the potsherd
that, written on by his ancestress, the
Egyptian Amenartas, had been the means
of guiding us to her. Ayesha listened in
tently, and, when he had finished, spoke
to me:
Did I not tell thee one day, when wedid
talk Of good and evil, oh, Holly-it was
when my beloved lay so ill-that out of
| good came evil, and out of evil ~good-that
they who sowed knew not what the crop
| should be, nor he who struck, whert the
blow should fally See, now: this Egyptian
| Amenartas, this child Of the Nile who hat
! ed me, and whom even now | hate, for in
q way she did prevail against me-see,
! now, she hei scif hath been the very means
80 bring her lover To mine arms. 70 her
s;gxe | slew him, and now, behold. through
her ne hath come back TO me! She would
have done me evil, ana Sowel her seeds
that ! might reap tares, and behold she
hath given me more than all the world can
| give, and shere is n strange square for
thee to iii into thy circle of good and evil,
oh, Holly.
"And So" She wen On after y pause
"and SO she babe her son destroy me if he
might, because ! slew his father. And
thou, my Hallikrates, gJt the father. ~ in
r. sense thou art likewise the son; and
wouldst thou aVcngc thy wrong, and the
wrong of that far-off mothe" If thine, upon
me, oh, Kallikrates? See" ard she slid to
her knees and drew the white corsage still
further dow her ivory bosom-"Sae, here
beats my heart, and there by thy siQe Is q
knife, heavy, and long, and sharp, the
very knife TO Stay an erring woman. Takait
! now, and be avenged. Strike, and strike.
home, SO shalt thou be satisfied, KALI
krates, and 90 through life q happy man,
because thou hast paid back the wrong,
and obeycd the mandate Of the past"
He looked Mt her, and then stretched out
his hand and lifted her to her feet.
Rise, Ayesha," he said, sadly; "well
thou kLowest that I cannot strike thee. no,
not even for the sake of her whom thou
slewest but last night. ] am in thy power
and a very slave to thee. How can ! kill
thee?-sooner should ] slay myself"
almost doSt thou begin to love me,
kallikrates," she answered, smiling. "And
now tell me Of thy country-'tis a great
people, is it not, with an empire like that
of Rome? Surely thou wouldst return
thither, and it is well, for | mean
not that thou shouldst dwell in these caves
Of Kor. Nay, when once thou art even as
] am, we will 90 hence-fear not ! shall
find a means-and then shall we cross 10
this England of thine, and live as it be-
cometh US TO live. Two thousand years
have | waited for the day when | should
see the last OF these hateful caves and this
gloomy-visaged folk. and now it is nj hand,
and my heart bounds up to meet it like a
child's toward its holiday. For thou shalt
rule this England"
"Bnt we have got a queen already" broke
in Leo, hastily.
at is naught, it is naught," said yesha
''she can be overthrown."
At this we both broke ont into an excla
nation Of horror, and explained that we
should as soon think Of overthrowing our
selves.
but here is n strange thing" said Aye
sha, in astonishment: "a queen whom her
people love! Surely the world must have
changed since | dwelt in kor."
Again we explained that it was the char